Archives: News

by Marlon Bernardino.
Daniel Baylosis of Pinamungajan, Cebu bagged the Championship crown of the latest KCCR online Chess Tournament, held at lichess. com last April 15, 2021.

Baylosis scored 8 wins, 1 loss, and a draw in a 10-round Swiss system. He was followed by John Nickolas Faustino with the same output but was placed second due to a lower tiebreak. Joel Obogne at 3rd. Kate Nicole Ordizo at 4th and Engr. Ernie Faeldonia got 5th place.

Category winners were Jerick Faeldonia (top kiddie), China Española (top lady) and Rey Fajarito (Romblon Chess Club).

Sandula Dahamdi of Musaeus College (receivng award above) won the first game and had a draw in the second game against her strong opponent Ehsha Pallie of Visakha Vidyalaya (photo below) and won the event without getting tie.

Throughout the event, both Dahamdi and Ehsha played good chess and performed really well by making the event more competitive.

Oneli Vithanawasam won the first game and had a draw in the second game against Desandhi Dhihansa Gamage and marked the 3rd place of the event.

The prestigious 2nd SL Youth Girls Chess Grand Prix 2021 was held  from 2nd to 18th April 2021 with 18 leading Girls Under 14 Years Chess players. There were 2 Round Robin 9 rounds events played from 2nd to 10th April after dividing them to two groups of equal strength in Rating. The knocked out stage started with the Quarter finals and continued on 17th and 18th April with the Semi Finals and Finals.

 

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka is offering Rs. 55,000/= as the cash awards for the event. All games were live broadcasted.

 

The event is held according to the strict health guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and The Medical Unit of Ministry of Sports. The following regulations should be adhered:

1. A directory of participants is kept.
2. Facilities for fever checking, Hand washing are available. Players should come wearing a Face masks
3. Gloves and face shields are provided by CFSL and players should wear them all the time they stay in the venue.
4. The social distancing should be adhered. Tables are arranged that way as 1 game per table.
5. No spectators, parents are allowed in the venue. They can drop the players at the venue and may come back to collect after the game.
6. Player gathering after the games is strictly prohibited.

WIM Nelunika Metmani

 

 

 

 

by Marlon Bernardino.

Fresh from winning the Gerardo Cabellon online birthday chess tournament last April 10, 2021, International Master Angelo Abundo Young stamped his class again by topping the Maravril Enterprise Batasan online chess tournament last April 13, 2021 at lichess.org.

Young, an 8-time Illinois USA Champion, tallied 9.5 points out of possible 10 to rule the online tilt organized by Mr. Rolly Jon Baliwang.

Former Asian Junior Champion International Master Ricardo de Guzman came second with 8 points followed by International Master Chris Ramayrat Jr. who totes 7.5 points.
Fourth and Fifth when to Tristan Jared Cervero and International Master Chito Garma who notch 7 points apiece

L M S T De Silva wins with dominant performance!

Sri Lanka National Number 3, L M S T De Silva (photo above) of Nalanda College dominated the whole tournament by scoring a grand slam of 7 points out of 7 games at the Inaugural CFSL Online Youth (Under 18Yrs. Open) Rapid Chess Championship 2021 concluded today (18^th April 2021).

L M S T De Silva who was sharing the lead yesterday with 4 wins out of 4 games performed excellently well to beat Daham Kusalwin Liyanage, Chenuka Nethvidu & J A K N T Indrajith in final 3 rounds to secure 3 more wins to conclude the event with 7 points out of possible 7 games. He received the Championship trophy and the Gold Medal.

Aruthran Arunakirinathan of Jaffna Hindu College (above left) finished with 5.5 points out of 7 games to win the Silver Medal while J A K N T Indrajith of St. Joseph’s BMV, Kegalle (above right) who tied with 7 other players, Chenuka Nethvidu(St. Aloysius College, Galle), Sanupa Bimsath Marapana (Maliyadeva College), Tuan Ehshan Pallie (Isipathana College), Ravindu Sandaruwan(Mahanama College), K G T S D Kiriella (Maliyadeva College), B Janukshan(Jaffna Hindu Primary School) & Lisara Tennakoon(Dharmaraja College) with 5 points each had the better in the tie breaker to win the Bronze medal. Chenuka Nethvidu secured the 4^th place.

The Inaugural CFSL Online Under 18 Open Youth Rapid Chess Championship 2021 conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka was successfully held on 17^th and 18^th of April 2021 via the Chess.com Platform. A total of 53 players from all over the country participated in the event which was conducted based on Swiss System for 7 rounds with the time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per each move played. Age was considered by the 1^st of January 2021.

The event was conducted with the highest precautions for anti-cheating regulations where only the laptops and desktops with a webcam was allowed to use for playing. All players were compelled to be in a Zoom meeting arranged by the organizers throughout the round with cameras and microphones switched on. All screens with the task manager is shared in zoom where the arbiters were closely looking at the players while playing. The games were also checked with FIDE approved programs to check whether they are clean. The CFSL has announced two-year ban on any player found guilty by any of the above measures.

Final Standings of top 10 players are as follows.

Name	Points
1.      L M S T De Silva	7,0
2.      Aruthran Arunakirinathan	5,5
3.      J A K N T Indrajith	5,0
4.      Chenuka Nethvidu	5,0
5.      Sanupa Bimsath Marapana	5,0
6.      Tuan Ehshan Pallie	5,0
7.      Ravindu Sandaruwan	5,0
8.      K G T S D Kiriella	5,0
9.      B Janukshan	5,0
10.   Lisara Tennakoon	5,0

 

You may find the complete list of final standings from the link here:

https://chess-results.com/tnr556912.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=7

by Marlon Bernardino.

Filipino chess prodigy Ivan Travis Cu of San Juan City pocketed the top honors in the 2021 Zamboanga Sultans National Age Group Chess Championship Mindanao leg Under-18 Boys division on Saturday, April 17, 2021 at the tornelo platform.

The 12-year-old Cu, a grade six student of Xavier School under the guidance of Xavier School Athleltic Director Larry De Las Peñas and coach International Arbiter Rolly Yutuc collected 6.5 points on six wins and one draw to win the seven-round tournament, backed up by Canadian National Master and frontliner Zulfikar Sali, team owner of PCAP’s Zamboanga Sultans.

The tournament was organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by it’s chairman/president Senior Deputy Speaker Prospero “Butch” Arreza Pichay Jr. assisted by International Arbiter James Infiesto and Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales.

Cu scored victories over Jhon Henson Sanchez in the first round, Lawrence Paradela in the second round, Tyrone James Tabernilla in the third round, John Dave Lavandero in the fourth round, Ghian Michael Aleria in the sixth round and Randolfh Mata Jr. in the seventh and final round. He split the point with Cedric Abris in the fifth round.

Final Standings:
6.5 points—Ivan Travis Cu
6 points—John Dave Lavandero
4.5 points—Tyrone James Tabernilla, Cedric Abris, Jerome Pullos
4 points—Brent Kristoffer Geronimo, Randolfh Mata Jr.

Cu is on a roll in the online tournament winning the Southern Luzon Under-12-category, 2nd place in the Northern Luzon Under-14-division and another runner-up place in the Visayas leg Under -16-section.

Cu also topped the 1st Jessie Villasin Cup online chess tournament held last February 13, 2021.
Cu captivated the chess world after finish second place in the Boys 10 and under 36th Singapore National Age Group Chess Championships held at the Expo MAX Atria in Singapore on Dec. 27–30, 2019. Cu who amassed seven wins and one loss got a total performance of 1622 for his effort including his last round victory over Oscar Gao (elo 1595) of Australia

by Marlon Bernardino.
THE 26th edition of España Chess Club Manila, dubbed as “Marianito Faeldonia’s 77th Birthday” was successfully completed and National Master Rolando Andador of Talisay  City, Negros Occidental emerged as the champion.

He captivated the chess world after winning the 1995 Philippine Junior Championship. Currently, Andador is one of the top players of Philippine National Police chess team  under the watchful eye of PNP chess coach Joms Pascua.

Rounding up the top 10 are 2nd place Romeo Sadia III, 3rd place NM Jasper Rom, 4th place Ravel Canlas, 5th Teorwin Talapian, 6th place Joshua Bautista, 7th place Jayson Visca, 8th place Ronald Berdera, 9th place, Eric Mordido and 10th place NM Julius Sinangote.

Category winners are Nephtali Bantang (Top RCC), Ezechias Francisco (Top 2000 & below ), Brigido Jr. Cabiguin (Top 1900 & below ), Hilbert Refuerzo (Top 1800 & below), Jerick Faeldonia (Top kiddie 13 under) and Jesca Docena (Top lady).

Dahamdi and Ehsha enter the Grand Finals!

After a hard battle of almost twelve hours Chess, both champions of Group X and Y win the semi -finals of the 2^nd Sri Lanka Youth Girls (Under 14 Yrs) Chess Grand Prix today.

Oneli Vithanawasam (Lyceum International School, Wattala) won the first game of the Semi Final 1 with Sandula Dahamdi of Musaeus College (above left) who was unbeaten up to the round making the event more competitive. But, Dahamdi made it equal by winning the 2nd round and led it to the first tie break of two rapid games. In the rapid round, Dahamdi won both games convincingly to earn the Finals.

Ehsha Pallie of Visakha Vidyalaya (above right) won the first round but lost the second game against Desandhi Dhihansa Gamage (Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya) making the battle more competitive. In the rapid round, Ehsha strongly scored 2 out of two games and made it to finals successfully.

The 2nd Sri Lanka Youth Girls (Under 14) Chess Grand Prix 2021 was conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka among leading 18 under 14 Yrs Girls Chess Players in the Country. The event was held in two stages where the 18 players were divided to two groups and played two round Robin Events. The top four players in the two groups met in a knock out event as Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals. The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka has offered a total Prize fund of Rs. 55,000/= for the winners of the event.

Dahamdi will meet Esha in the Grand Finals tomorrow at 9.00 a.m. the 2^nd Round of the Finals will start at 3.00 p.m. The Consolation finals also will be held at the same timings with Oneli meeting Desandi. If the results are tied with 1 each, two Rapid Chess Games of 15 Minutes + 10 second will be played. If still ties, two Blitz Games with 3 minutes + 2 Seconds will be played. If still the score is 1-1, an Armageddon Game giving 5 minutes to white and 4 minutes to Black will be played. The Draw in this game will be considered as a win for Black.

By IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo, Chief Arbiter.

The Maa Samaleswari FIDE Open Chess Tournament – 2021 was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Shri Pradeep Kumar, DRM & President East Coast Railway Sambalpur. Other dignitaries were Mrs. Isha Malik, President East Coast Railway Women Welfare Organisation, Shri Ranjan Mohanty, President, All Odisha Chess Association; Dr Milind Hirwe, Sr DOM & Sports Officer, East Coast Railway, Sambalpur & Shri Saroj Kant Das, Asst. Sports Officer. Chief Guest Shri Pradeep Kumar said that, it is a pride moment for Sambalpur Division to organise such event, “Chess makes a person mentally strong and stable.”

During the Covid period with night curfew, it was a great challenge for entire organizers were so co-operative team to hold such a valuable tournament. Organisers were so co-operative that entire session with proper sanitization, cleanliness, mask & maintaining the distance between each player everything was followed. Officials & Players were under metal detector & thermal temperature sensor with proper wearing of mask. Players enjoyed to play in air-conditioned hall in this hot summer.

The total no of participants 65 from 14 districts had taken part in this event. 30 rated players (including 8 women) were participated. Eight rounds Swiss system league was played with a time control of 60 min. with 30 sec increment from move no.1.

The total prize fund for above captioned event was ` 1,25,000/- (Rupees One lakh & twenty five thousands only). The organiser arranged with FREE dormitory Accommodation to players for entire tournament period.

 

The top seed Nilsu Pattnayak, 1948 of Cuttack clinched the Championship trophy with 7 win 1 draw with 11 seed and awarded a cash prize of ` 15,000/-. The 4<sup>th</sup> seed Rabindra Kumar Ojha won the last battle and became Runner-up with 6.5 points (1 draw, one loss) & award a cash prize of ` 10,000. The 3^rd seed Sanjeeban Nayak, 1796 of Jajpur became 2^nd Runner-up & bagged ` 8,000/- with 5 wins, 2 draw with 7 & 63 seed and one loss from top seed in the tournament.

 

The tournament concluded with Valedictory ceremony-cum-Prize Distribution, at 06:30 P.M. on 13 April 2021. The Chief Guest was Sri Pradeep Kumar, DRM & President East Coast Railway Sambalpur; Guest of Honour Shri Ranjan Mohanty, President, All Odisha Chess Association; Mrs. Isha Malik, President East Coast Railway Women Welfare Organisation, Shri Debabrata Bhatta, Secretary, All Odisha Chess Association, Dr Milind Hirwe, Sr DOM & Sports Officer, East Coast Railway, Sambalpur. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion were Alok Ranjan Panda, Sports Secretary, Mr. Kamal Rout, Md. Rafi, (Railway) & Manoj Kumar Dash, Anil Kumar Panda from Sambalpur District Chess Association.

 

The Press and Media covered the event well and we had considerably support from the parents and guardians of the kid participants and without any dispute the tournament ended successfully.

 

Out of 35 unrated players 7 players will get their new rating in the month of May & only 3 players gained more than 50 ELO in this tournament. Satyam Sarbajit Mishra, 1065 (+126), Piyush Kumar Sahoo, 1098 (+76), Mrutyunjay Mondal, 1159 (+60).

 

The Chief Arbiter for the event is International Arbiter Suresh Chandra Sahoo ably assisted by NA Ranjan Mohanty & NA Bidhu Bhusan Mishra of Odisha.

 

 

 

By IA S. Ganesh Babu, Chief Arbiter.

The 68^th Tamil Nadu State Open Chess Championship was organised by Tirunelveli District Chess Development Association held at Thamirabharani Engineering College, Tirunelveli from 29^th March to 02^nd April, 2021. The Prize fund of Rs.1,50,000 was split into 25 main prizes and 80 trophies for age category players.       The five day event was inaugurated by Mr.M R Paulraj, Chairman, Thamirabharani engineering college in the presence of Mrs. Annalakshmi, Principal, TEC, Prof. R Anantharam, Vice President, TNSCA and Tournament coordinator, Mr. M Ephrame, Joint Secretary, TNSCA, Mr.Paul Kumar, Secretary, TDCDA, Mr. Prethip, Vice President, TDCDA, Mr. Rex, Secretary, Kanyakumari DCA, Mr.R P Senthil Kumaran, Secretary, Thanjavur DCA, Mr.S Ganesh Babu, Chief Arbiter and Mr.Selva Manikandan, Deputy Chief Arbiter & Treasurer, TDCDA.

Three hundred and seventy four players from 30 districts participated in this nine round swiss format tournament out of which 207 players were internationally rated. The seeding list was spearheaded by the fifteen year old defending champion V Pranav (2348 rating) of Velammal Vidyalaya, Chennai. N Lokesh of Krishnagiri, K Senthil Maran of Thiruvallur, IM Balasubramaniam R of Chengalpattu and the runner up of the last edition SS Manigandan of Madurai were seeded from 2^nd to 5^th respectively.

The first round witnessed a mild upset when S Jai Karthik of Trichy held sixth seeded FM T Purushothaman of Thanjavur who recently migrated from Andhra Pradesh. In the third round, second seeded N Lokesh had to share the point with Sudharsun Gurukrishnan of Salem in a same colour bishop ending. There were two more drawn encounters among the top seven boards, wherein former national blitz champion Ram S Krishnan of BSNL had to give up half a point to V Mithun Anand of Thoothukudi and higher rated G Gugan of Salem had to concede a draw to S Sathyanarayanan of Chennai.

Of the top five games of the fourth round, FM Senthil Maran and M Barath Kalyan of Tiruvarur were forced to split the point with Aadith R of Chengalpattu and Sree Veeramani P of Kanchi respectively. Twelve players shared the lead with four points each at the end of the fourth round. Three players Pranav, IM Balasubramaniam and fourteen year old R. Shadhursshaan of Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar district emerged leaders with a full score of five points from five rounds. The friends and foes SS Manigandan and RM Subramanian both from Golden Knights Chess Academy Madurai drew their games, as did Arnav Maheshwari and Nikhil Magizhan of Tiruvallur district. In this round, Shadhursshaan played a beautiful game to subdue FM VInoth Kumar M of Chennai, rated 500 points above him.

Pranav continued his winning spree recording his sixth continuous victory in six games, this time over the experienced international master Balasubramaniam. On the second board, the in-form Shadhursshaan played on par with the 2019 edition runner up SS Manigandan to extract half a point. Former under 9 national champion and runner up in the under 11 nationals, AR Ilamparithi also drew with Arnav. B Vignesh of Chengalpattu and Barath Kalyan defeated G Gugan and Arunachalam Shivaa of Coimbatore respectively to join Shadhursshaan, K  Nandha Kumar of Coimbatore and RM Subramanian on the second spot, half a point behind Pranav.

Pranav maintained his spectacular form to outwit B Vignesh to register his seventh win of the tournament and another decisive result on the third board enabled Nandhakumar over RM Subramanian to be the only player on the second position with 6.5 points. Again, the tiny Shadhursshaan held Barath rated 600 points above him, to a draw on the second board. Ten players were on the third place with six points each. Pranav did not relax and raced to his eighth win beating Nandhakumar in the eighth round. IM Balasubramaniam, AR Ilamparithi and S Suganthan of Tirunelveli to move to second place, one point behind Pranav.

In the final round, Pranav went on to beat Suganthan to retain his title with a record score of 9.0/9. IM Balasubramanian and Ilamparithi drew their game to finish second and third respectively with 7.5 points each. SS Manigandan and Dinesh Kumar Jaganathan also scored 7.5 points and were placed fourth and fifth. Pranav studying 10^th standard in Velammal Vidyalaya, Chennai is coached by FT K Visweswaran.

Sri Senthil Kumar Palraj, Secretary Thamirabharani Engineering College presided over the function and Sri MR Paulraj, Chairman of the college was the chief guest. Other guests of honour present were Mrs. Annalakshmi, Principal of the college and Mr. Prethip, Vice President, TDCDA, Prof. R. Anantharam, IA, Tournament coordinator, Mr. Paul Kumar, Secretary, TDCDA, Mr. S Ganesh Babu, Chief Arbiter and Mr. Selva Manikandan, Deputy Chief Arbiter & Treasurer, TDCDA.

 

68th Tamil Nadu State Open Chess Championship-2021
MAIN PRIZE WINNERS
Rank		Name		Rtg	Club	Type	Pts	BH.	BH.	SB	Res.	Vict
1		Pranav V		2348	CHE	U17	9	52½	56½	56.50	0	9
2	IM	Ramnathan Balasubramaniam		2180	CG		7½	54½	58	45.25	0	7
3		Ilamparthi A R		1989	CG	U13	7½	50	54	43.75	0	6
4		Manigandan S S		2154	MDU		7½	50	53½	44.00	0	6
5		Dinesh Kumar Jaganathan		1908	CHE	U17	7½	48½	51	40.50	0	7
6		Nandha Kumar K		1740	CBE		7	51½	54	38.00	0	6
7		Srimathi R	F	1948	MDU		7	50½	55½	41.75	0	5
8		Kishore Kumar Jaganathan		1736	CHE		7	50½	54½	38.00	0	7
9		Suthershun A		1723	TRR		7	49½	53½	39.00	0	6
10		Suganthan S		1885	TNLV	U17	7	48	53	38.50	0	7
11		Anup Shankar R		1886	TRY		7	48	52½	40.00	0	6
12	AGM	Sa Kannan		1927	SVG		7	47½	52	39.00	0	6
13		Senthil Kumaran R.P.		1952	TNJ		7	47	52	39.50	0	7
14		Rathina Sabapathi A		1959	CG	U17	7	47	51½	39.00	0	6
15	FM	Senthil Maran K		2246	TVLR		7	47	51	38.50	0	5
16		Lokesh N.		2277	KGI		7	46½	50½	38.25	0	6
17		Nandish V S		1625	CBE	U13	7	46	50½	38.50	0	6
18	FM	Vinoth Kumar M.		2038	CHE		7	46	50	38.50	0	7
19		Subramanian R M		1810	MDU		6½	50	52	34.25	0	6
20		Gugan G		2149	SLM	U17	6½	49	53½	37.50	0	6
21		Barath Kalyan M		2135	TRR		6½	48½	52½	36.50	0	5
22	AGM	Vignesh B		1912	CG	U17	6½	48½	52½	33.75	0	6
23		Aravinth Shanmugam S		1660	MDU	U17	6½	48	51	33.75	0	5
24		Arnav Maheshwari		1844	TVLR	U17	6½	48	50½	34.25	0	5
25		Arul Anandh S P K		1729	CBE	U17	6½	47½	51	33.75	0	5

 

 

 

15^th BRDCA Karnataka state open Fide rated chess championship 2021 was held at Virginia Mall, Whitefield Main Road, Varthur Kodi Circle, Bangalore-560066. The Tournament was organized by Bangalore Rural District Chess Association (BRDCA).  The Tournament attracted 211 players from all over Karnataka out of which 86 players were rated. This event was conducted with 9 rounds in Swiss format. Top seed was Sanjay N of Bengaluru with a rating of 2330. Total cash prize fund was Rs.225,000.

The tournament was inaugurated on 31^st March 2021 by Chidanand A Vice President of united Karnataka chess Association and Secretary of Bangalore Rural District Chess Association (BRDCA).

 

All COVID norms are followed as instructed by Indian Government and BBMP norms Bangalore. All players are wearing mask during play. Sanitizer kept at enough places for players to wash their hands. After every round disinfectant spray was sprayed in all boards and clocks.

In the 9^th round which started on 4^th April 2021 by 1:15 PM, on the top board with white pieces Prachura PP (7 Pts) DREW with Ojas Kulkarni (7 Pts). In Second board white pieces played by Sharan Rao (7 Pts) BEAT Balakishan A (7 Pts). In the 3^rd Board white pieces played by Sudharshan Bhat (6½ Pts) DREW with Parthasarthy R (7 Pts). 4 players who qualified to represent Senior Nationals at Kanpur are Sharan Rao, Ojas Kulkarni, Prachura P.P. and Parthasarathy R. (photo above)

 

The Prize Distribution Ceremony took place on 4^th of April 2021 at 6.00 pm, the Chief Guest was Mr. Hanumantha R, Secretary United Karnataka Chess Association and Events committee Chairman in All India Chess Federation and Mr. Chidanand A, Secretary BRDCA & Vice president of UKCA gave away the prizes.

 

FA Murugasundaram K

Chief Arbiter